Chinese president also urges his visiting Philippine counterpart not to be influenced by ‘external interference’ – an apparent reference to US pressure
Xi reiterates Beijing’s position that it does not recognise 2016 international tribunal ruling on contested waterway in favour of Manila
Chinese President Xi Jinping has urged his Philippine counterpart Rodrigo Duterte to “put aside” the maritime dispute between the two countries and instead focus on pushing forward a deal to jointly explore oil and gas in theouth China Sea.
Duterte is on his fifth visit to China, seeking to boost investment in the country as well as to formally discuss the dispute for the first time in three years to assuage concerns at home over increasing Chinese encroachment in the contested waters.
But in an apparent rebuke to Duterte’s complaint, Xi on Thursday called for Manila to “put aside the dispute” and not to be influenced by “external interference”, an apparent reference to pressure from the United States, according to a statement from China’s foreign ministry.
During the meeting with Duterte, Xi also called for the two countries to focus on cooperation, to move ahead with a plan to jointly explore oil and gas in the resource-rich waterway and to finish negotiations on a code of conduct for the South China Sea by 2021.
A “joint steering committee” made up of diplomats and energy officials and a “joint entrepreneurial working committee” of business figures involved in the oil and gas project were set up after the meeting, according to state news agency Xinhua.
Duterte’s spokesman Salvador Panelo said on Friday that Xi had also reiterated Beijing’s position that it did not recognise an international tribunal ruling on the South China Sea in 2016, and that would not change. The tribunal ruled in favour of Manila’s economic rights in part of the waterway also claimed by Beijing.
Meanwhile, Xi said China was willing to import more fresh fruit and farm products from the Philippines, and it would send agricultural and fisheries experts to the country to help improve know-how in those areas.
The two countries would also continue their cooperation on infrastructure, energy, telecoms and developing industrial parks, according to the foreign ministry statement.
Zhang Mingliang, an expert on Southeast Asian countries at Jinan University in Guangzhou, said that while the two sides had made little progress towards resolving their maritime dispute, it was clear that Beijing wanted to maintain good ties with Manila as tensions escalated with other rivals in the South China Sea after a series of recent confrontations.
“The South China Sea issue has never been properly addressed and there is a danger that it could resurface,” Zhang said.
“The announcement of the joint exploration was portrayed as a major outcome of the visit, but it was really just a way to gloss over the differences,” he added.